Tharisa (LSE:THS), the platinum group metals (PGM) and chrome producer, reported full-year PGM production of 153.7koz on a 6E basis for FY2026, up from 138.7koz the prior year and in line with guidance.
Chrome concentrate output reached 1,563.8kt for the year, against 1,558.2kt in FY2025, also within the company's guided range.
The fourth quarter alone produced 41.0koz of PGMs, up 3.5% on the third quarter's 39.6koz, and 416.7kt of chrome concentrate, up 5.8% quarter-on-quarter. Pricing supported the year's results: the average PGM contained metal basket price came in at $2,607/oz for FY2026, against $1,615/oz a year earlier, while metallurgical grade chrome concentrate averaged $290/t on a 42% basis, up from $266/t.
Fourth-quarter PGM pricing eased to $2,535/oz from $2,681/oz in the third quarter, and chrome pricing slipped to $285/t from $306/t, reflecting what the company described as a softer late-year chrome market amid weaker stainless steel demand.
The quarter capped a period in which Tharisa's Karo Platinum project in Zimbabwe moved decisively toward construction funding.
Karo signed a 25-year Special Mining Lease with the Zimbabwean government on 24 August covering 23,903 hectares of the Great Dyke, followed three days later by a five-year PGM concentrate offtake agreement with Valterra Platinum, and then a $300 million senior secured Nordic bond priced to fund the project's completion.
"Security of tenure, regulatory certainty and offtake is what is required to attract international capital to a major African mining project," said chief executive Phoevos Pouroulis, adding that the company had invested more than $240 million in Karo before approaching the bond market.
Cumulative investment in Karo now stands at $240 million against total estimated project capital expenditure of $516 million, funded to date by $204 million of Tharisa equity and $36 million from the KMH bond, with the new $300 million bond sized to cover the remaining construction programme.
Group cash fell to $123.6 million at 30 September, down from $198.8 million at 30 June, while debt rose to $462.8 million from $188.1 million over the same period, leaving the group with net debt of $51.0 million against net cash of $10.7 million three months earlier.
Including $288.2 million held in escrow related to the bond proceeds, combined cash totalled $411.8 million.
At the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, the underground transition project advanced 450 development metres during the quarter and remains on schedule to reach steady-state production at the Apollo shaft by the start of FY2029.
At Karo, the mining contractor had 44 of a planned 82 fleet units on site, with ore mining scheduled to begin in October and first ore to the mill still targeted for the fourth quarter of calendar 2027, after which steady-state production of 220koz to 230koz of 6E PGMs annually is expected within about six months.
Tharisa set FY2027 production guidance, covering the Bushveld Complex only, at 150koz to 170koz of PGMs and 1.50Mt to 1.65Mt of chrome concentrate.
Pouroulis also marked the departure of Loucas Pouroulis after fifteen years as chairman, welcoming Carol Bell as his successor as the company enters what he called its "next chapter" of delivering Karo Platinum and further growth at the Tharisa Mine.